It was an outstanding victory, a historic one at that. Yogi Berra, that American baseball player once quipped that famous one liner: “it is not over till it’s all over.” But the election is really over and Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has bested all his opponents in what could only be described as the start of a political fairy tale.
Mayor and now President-elect Duterte is the first incumbent local official to win the presidency. This has never happened before. Most of our past presidents held senior-level government positions or were senators. Cory Aquino was, of course, different as she was propelled to the presidency as a housewife.
The Filipino people have put their trust and faith in Mayor Duterte to lead them for the next six years. This election is a complete repudiation of President Aquino’s fictitious daang matuwid program. Mayor Duterte has a formidable task ahead of him. We hope that he chooses people of quality in order to tackle the many problems and challenges that the Aquino administration is leaving behind. His choices for his Cabinet, together with the second-tier positions, will give us, soon enough, an inkling of how the Duterte administration will govern. As mayor of a major city in the country, he sees the issues confronting the country differently in contrast to that perhaps of Mar Roxas who has always occupied high-level national positions.
This is the reason Duterte’s priorities are a little different. His focus on crime, for instance, is understandable. He experiences and deals with crime first hand on a daily basis. Illegal drugs, prostitution, human trafficking and street crimes are problems that a mayor has to confront and he is right on one other thing—that a peaceful environment is necessary so that people can go about their business without fear.
He does not of course have to kill every criminal suspect as he once boasted. But I agree that he must instill fear in the minds of criminals so that they will stop their nefarious activities. This covers both street and white-collar criminals. Those who steal massive amounts of money from the coffers of the government must also have that fear for them to stop because if they do not, harsh treatment awaits them if they get caught. His many pronouncements in solving the contentious South China Sea problem is also seen in the prism of a local official. Local problems are dealt with by talking and that is what he is bringing to Malacañang.
Whether this will change when he takes office, we will have to wait and see. Problems and issues will be national and international in scope and this outlook might change his management style. The issue of corruption is also one that needs his attention. Officials of this administration have been systematically looting the treasury and he should seriously consider organizing an independent audit team to look into this and go after the corrupt officials.
But all these things can wait. His opponents have conceded defeat and the good mayor is entitled to a victory celebration and a short rest before he starts transitioning to become our next president. Everyone seems to be happy that the election turned out the way it did. Even the financial markets reacted positively. The peso has surged and the stock market has bounced back. All these are indications that the public has accepted the result of the elections. But there were plans for an election outcome different than what came out. Over the past few weeks, unbeknownst to the Filipino nation, there was a sharp and intense cyber contest that went on between a ragtag Filipino computer group and a foreign cyber group with state of the art equipment that wanted to intervene in our elections. It is a story worthy of a John Le Carré spy novel, maybe even better. The story is so fantastic that even I, who have had some kind of intelligence experience, find it hard to digest. It is, however, all true. But this story will have to be told later. Let us not spoil the national euphoria created by the election.
To the doubting Thomases out there, relax: We have elected some presidents in the past with worse credentials and survived them. We just went through one. Mayor Duterte is entitled to a hundred day honeymoon as is customary. So why don’t we give him the chance to prove his worth?
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In the vice presidential race, unofficial results are showing Leni Robredo as the “last man standing.” If the official results validate this, it will also be another Cinderella story. If she wins, she will just be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Coming from the kind of background that she has, she and Mayor Duterte will be thrust into the pinnacle of political power of this country.
Both victories will be digested, discussed and analyzed in the weeks to come for sure. And if I can venture one observation, the victories was because both exuded simplicity and honesty in their discourse. Both of them happen to be lawyers and therefore will be speaking the same language. They however have contrasting styles. The President-elect speaks like any ordinary person on the street while Leni Robredo speaks carefully and in measured terms. It would be interesting see how they would gel. That is of course if Robredo goes on to win. Bongbong Marcos is breathing down her neck and could still overtake her.
The suspense must be killing them.
